Many sports are based upon the use of objects for achieving a goal. For example, baseball games revolve around the handling of a baseball. Likewise, hockey, soccer and tennis are games which rely heavily on skills of handling hockey pucks, soccer or tennis balls, respectively. Sports such as these have continued to grow in popularity over the recent years. One sport which is exemplary of the way in which these sports have developed, and which serves as an example of the application of the present invention to various sports, is golf.
Golf is a sport that is continuing to grow in popularity. One of golf's main attractions to enthusiasts is the continual challenge of improving one's game. Indeed, even for the most seasoned professional, it is a virtual impossibility to golf a perfect round. Another attraction of golf is that the field of play constantly changes as the golfer progresses through the golf course and, consequently, the golfer 's interest is held during play.
Not surprisingly, to become an adept golfer and to maintain golfing proficiency, a significant amount of practice is required. Golf practice preferably exercises the golfer's ability in all facets of the game, including putting, pitching, and driving.
To improve their golf ball driving capability, many golfers spend hours hitting golf balls at outdoor driving ranges. These driving ranges include open areas hundreds of yards long down which the practicing golfers can drive golf balls. Typically, the golfer will purchase a bucket of range golf balls and sequentially drive the golf balls downrange. A golf course employee is ordinarily assigned to periodically collect the driven golf balls.
While driving ranges are excellent practice forums, they have certain drawbacks. Foremost among them is that because of their large size, most driving ranges must be outdoors, making them effectively unusable during periods of inclement weather. Also, driving ball after ball down the same driving range can become tedious.
Accordingly, golf training devices have been introduced for providing an indoor facility in which a golfer can practice golfing, including driving golf balls. One example of such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,825 to Wilson for a golf game simulating apparatus. According to the Wilson invention, an enclosure is provided into which a golfer can drive a ball against a screen, and the image of a fairway is projected onto the screen. Prior to hitting the screen, the ball travels through three planes that are bounded by three sets of motion sensors. The sensors provide a signal to the computer when the ball passes through their respective plane. Based upon the signal from the sensors, the computer determines the trajectory the ball would have had if the ball had not been stopped by the screen. The computer then causes a video image of the ball to be projected on the screen, illustrating the balls' travel down the fairway.
Unfortunately, the Wilson device has several drawbacks. For example, the Wilson device cannot compute and display the path of a putted golf ball. The Wilson device also does not take into account the influence of obstacles such as trees on the travel of the ball. Also, the Wilson device requires the use of three arrays of sensors, which increases the complexity of the device. Further, the Wilson device cannot easily and quickly be erected and disassembled.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an athletic game simulator which can be played indoors. It is another object of the present invention to provide an athletic game simulator which provides a realistic, real-time video display of a physical object that is used in the athletic game, such as a putted or driven golf ball travelling a computed trajectory. Still another object of the invention is to provide such a simulator which requires a minimum number of sensor arrays to accurately accomplish its purpose, thereby minimizing its complexity and cost. A further object of the present invention is to provide an athletic game simulator which can be relatively easily assembled. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an athletic game simulator which is easy to use and cost-effective to manufacture.